Describing 2D Shapes

We have started off our maths topic with "space" and more specifically, looking at 2D shapes. Now my maths group is full of students who are eager and excited about learning, so I thought we could easily zip through 2D shapes and get to 3D shapes. Well, after this week, I have realised that although they can identify 2D shapes, they struggle to describe them or even match the shape to the description. So what do they need you ask?!?! They need to learn some maths vocabulary!

I have created a poster with terms that I think would be useful for them to know to be able to describe the shapes. For this mini-lesson, students will have to match up my visual definition to the term. They next have to use these words in their descriptions of various 2D shapes.

Maths vocabulary is something that is often overlooked but so crucial! There is no way that students will be able to describe something without having the proper vocabulary. So let's see what type of descriptions I will get now!

Recalling Details (The 5 W's)

The school that I work at runs fluid groupings for reading and maths, and we have now just started it for writing (I will keep you posted on how that goes!). For those who aren't familiar with fluid grouping, students are divided into groups based on their academic ability in that subject and more specifically the topic being studied. So, as an example, all grade 5 and 6 students are grouped initially based on start up tests on, let's say, maths. There are six grade 5/6 teachers, so there will be six groups. Then, if the topic being studied is multiplication, and some students need more help or others need more extension, students can move between the group based on the teachers discretion. Although there are some negatives to this system, I think that from a teachers point of view, it is very helpful to have students in closer ability ranges as it is easier to teach to a more targeted group. It also allows the students to receive more targeted instruction at their level. 

So, after all of that, this year I have been given the lowest reading group. These students are in grade 5/6 but are working at a much lower level. This has been a challenging few weeks for myself as I am needing to re-evaluate my teaching practice. I have been working a lot with the grade 1/2 teachers to get ideas and direction of how to run my reading lessons. 

This week, we are working on recalling details from a story/text. Although the rest of the grade 5/6 teachers are working at a higher level, I have modified this topic to focus on the 5W's (who, what, when, where, why). Hopefully this works for my students. I have created a 5W anchor chart for this week and it includes our learning goal and success criteria.

I have created some very scaffolded activities for the students this week on the 5Ws with their guided reading books. Essentially, like the anchor chart says, I just want the students to understand the 5Ws and how to find them in a text. 

Oral Language

I have been horrible at posting lately as school has got the best of me. But, I promise to make an effort to post more regularly, since we have been doing some wonderful activities and lessons in the past few weeks since school has started. 

 

Here is a quick but handy post on oral language. Teachers are often at a loss for ideas on how to run an oral language activity (I will post some more ideas in another post). This book is wonderful, and although it is targeted for EAL students, it really can be used with an grade and academic level. 

Inside this book, there are numerous flash cards relating to different topics (school, home, activities, food, etc.). I have simply photocopied the flash cards that I wanted onto coloured paper and laminated them. 

Now, in my reading class, we use they flash cards for tons of different oral language activities. 

Some activities we do with the flash cards are:

- alphabetical order

- categorising

- synonyms/antonyms

- letter patterns

- 20 questions

Hopefully this helps spawn some other wonderful oral language ideas!

First Week of School - Getting To Know You

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately but work has just been very overwhelming. The first week of school is often hectic and busy but this year, I am taking on the role of being a team leader which as exciting as it is, gives me greater responsibility = greater workload. So I have been adjusting to this role and getting settled into routines. I promise to post more regularly soon!

This post is a simple one based on an activity we used in our first week of school. Our school merged two campuses together this week and it was crucial that we assisted the students in getting to know each other. One of the easiest ways of doing this is through a "Get to Know You BINGO". I absolutely love this activity and have used it in other school years also. 

Here is the worksheet that I created with a teammate. Essentially, students need to go around the room and place the name of a classmate in one of the boxes. They can only use a name once (no repeats). The first student to finish wins. Enjoy!

Our New School

This past week has been very chaotic trying to get the new school ready for the students. The builders were there all weekend finishing things up and our school isn't fully finished yet, but was ready for instruction to begin. So today was the first day in the new school! The students were so excited and it was a very exciting time for teachers too (especially those who have been at the school since the plans for the new building began). 

Our new building is a complete open learning space. This means team teaching and team planning at its finest. Over the past two years that I have been at the school, we have practised team teaching and at first I was hesitant, but now I love it. So with that said, some of the members of my team have had experienced team teaching so this move is not too drastic of change. In our 5/6 space, we do have breakout rooms to take out small focus groups for work but in general, it is an open space. 

I don't have any before and after yet as we haven't been able to make our area look beautiful since we are still waiting on pin boards to be installed and some more furniture to be delivered.  But, I do have some pictures of what my week/weekend looked like in the unpacking/setting up process:

Our "teacher office" is hidden behind all this sports equipment stored in our area over the break.

This is me in my new home room learning space. No desks to be found at the moment but plenty of chairs. 

All our boxes to be unpacked. We had a superstar team that got this unpacked quite quickly. 

One of the learning spaces in our area. This is a larger break out room. Can you see the blue theme in our area?!

Our wet room - another team teaching space but with lino instead of carpet and sinks. This area will be the primary science and art learning area.

Hello 2013 School Year

Wow! Our school holidays are nearly over and we start the new school year this week. I've had a busy break overseas and have been completely out of touch with the blogging world, but now I am back so you can look forward to more regular blog posts. 

Here's a little taste of what my summer break entailed (a trip back home to Canada to visit family and friends, a one-week adventure to Dominican Republic in the Caribbean for some R&R, and a quick stint in Korea on our way back to Australia):

Highlights included dogsledding, skating, driving in blizzards, family time, endless white sand beach, palaces, hanok villages, and a visit to the infamous Gangnam.

Although I didn't do much school work while I was away, I did happen to purchase some new picture story books that I am pretty excited about. First, I always like to buy a new Christmas picture story book for every Christmas. In 2012, I decided to buy "The Twelve Days of Australian Christmas". My kids and even family enjoyed the humour of that book. While in Canada, I happened to come across a picture story book entitled "The Twelve Days of Canadian Christmas". I had to buy it! And now I have a nice little set to cherish both the Aussie and Canadian Christmas traditions. Even though I won't be able to use this until the end of the year, I thought it was definitely worth a share. 

And now for my favourite book purchase... "The Munschworks Grand Treasury"! Now if you are Australian, you are probably unaware of the author Robert Munsch, but he is a legendary children's author in Canada. I have very fond memories of reading his stories as a child, especially Thomas' Snowsuit, The Paperbag Princess and Mortimer. So I knew when I went back to Canada that I had to buy some Robert Munsch books to bring some Munsch into the lives of Australian children. I made a trip to Chapters (big book store) to make my purchases and that is when I found the Grand Treasury, a collection of all his best stories. I knew right then that I must have it. And here, ladies and gentlemen, The Munschworks Grand Treasury has made its way back to Australia!

We begin school again on Tuesday and I am off to an overnight staff residential so I will be sure to fill you in on all the exciting new things that are yet to come during this 2013 school year!!! :) 

Goodbye 2012 School Year

And then there was one day left...

This week was such a hectic and busy week. It is the week before Christmas, the last week of the school year, the week of graduation and also the week to pack up our whole school to move to our new site.

I can't believe the end of the year is already here. As a sixth grade teacher, I am full of emotion seeing my students get ready for high school. On Tuesday night, we held their graduation ceremony. It was a lovely night and the kids had a blast. I am so glad that we are able to give our students such a wonderful send off.  (Check out the wonderful cake we had made for our graduates!)

The remainder of this week has been spent wrapping up the school year and moving all at once. Teaching in a classroom with no chairs, whiteboards and desks proves to be a tricky task but all the teachers seem to be adapting their lessons very well. It definitely makes you appreciate how lucky we are to teach in a country where those resources are so readily available.

And today I got to meet my new class. I am so excited with the students I have and for what is in store next year. I am overwhelmed with a mix of emotions; sad to see my six's move on to high school, while being excited for them at the same time, and also being excited for a new school year.  Less than 5 more teaching hours left and this school year is over. Good bye 2012 school year, it has been a pleasure!